Another Brewers Transaction

The Brewers bullpen has turned into a revolving door, and the man pictured above is the latest member of the squad (that is, if the picture I post decides not to disappear like the rest of them have been). Chris Smith, who saw some action with the Red Sawx last year and spent the beginning of this year down in Nashville, has been called up as Mark DeFelice has been placed on bereavement leave.

DeFelice has been having elbow problems, and a trip to the DL was in question anyways. But he's taking a leave from the team not because of injury, but rather to attend his grandmother's funeral this weekend. I know Brewers beat writer Tom Haudricourt faces an extraordinary amount of criticism already, but I was kind of put off by the fact that he called this a "slick" move by the Brewers. Tommy says: "It was a slick move with DiFelice, because he has been unavailable anyway with a sore elbow. His grandmother died Monday and he was leaving the club Saturday to go to her funeral, so now he can leave a little early and allow his elbow to calm down."

I mean, if that's how you want to look at things, fine. Just kind of makes you sound a little, you know, not human. I don't know, I know I'm being nit-picky here, but Tom's been complaining about being in Miami all week (flight was late, Monday's rainout, lack of attendance) and it's starting to annoy me. You have one of the 30 best jobs in the world Tom, let's chill out a bit.

Moving on, Smith has been nothing short of stellar in Nashville, and he's the guy many thought should have been brought up instead of Mike Burns. So far this season, Smith has 12 saves in Nashville, a 2-0 record, and a 1.38 ERA. Not bad.

Once DeFelice comes back however, I have no idea what the Brewers will do. Smith has better stuff than Burns from what I understand, but Burns hasn't done anything wrong yet to warrant being sent back down. Either way, I'm very thankful about the depth the Brewers have in that bullpen so far this season.